The Wager
by Firehearted Shinobi
Summary: It was no secret that in the Rainsworth manor the authority when it came to romance was undoubtedly Sharon. She took great pride in that fact. So when Break starts poaching on her territory (she would start giving him advice on swordsmanship and see how he liked it) she eagerly sets out to prove him wrong. Of course Break just had to come along and try to make it more interesting.
1. Chapter 1

It was no secret that in the Rainsworth manor the authority when it came to romance was undoubtedly Sharon. There was no other person who would have the ability to easily skim through the manor's library and immediately pull up a book pertaining to any one of the many different romances that could be portrayed in writing. Sweet and cuddly or firey and passionate and everything in between. Her knowledge over her domain even went as far as to include the one's that were rather raunchy, but she took great care in keeping those particular tomes away from prying eyes although she suspected that her manservant was well aware of their existance...

The matter at hand was that _she_ was the authority on all things romance in the manor, just as you would ask Gilbert for advice when it came to guns or Break when it came to swordsmanship you would go to her for love. And that was why she was thoroughly upset when Break had slipped into her study one afternoon and snuck up behind her to inform her that he believed that there was a relationship developping between Gilbert and Alice. In her momentary irritation she wondered how he would like it if she suddenly started spouting out opinions on how best to parry while swordfighting. Her displeasure must have shown on her face because Break had no qualms about laughing long and hard at her expense. She let the big idiot get it out of his system and meanwhile continued to mull over what he'd said.

"I believe that Gilbert and miss Alice have developped some sort of liason, Ojou-sama." He had playfully whispered into her ear. The need to cry out in exasperation had risen once again.

"What do you mean they've developped some sort of liaison?" she had shrieked. How dare he! How dare he speak of a liaison between Gilbert and Alice? It made it sound so... so sexual! And she just couldn't see Alice in all her sweet naivety in a secret relationship of that nature. The glare she sent his way darkened and the only indication that he noticed the change was that he gave her a big smile in return and that only angered her further since she knew he had chosen his words carefully on purpose.

"I meant exactly what I said, I have a firm belief that they are, how should I best phrase this? Paramours!" His smile remained wide as Emily's cackles drifted from his coat pocket. They were promptly silenced as Sharon whacked Break on the head with the handy harisen she kept hidden up the sleeve of her dress.

"Don't say such ridiculous things, Break!" she chided stowing her weapon back in its hiding place. "I find it very hard to believe that Alice and Gilbert are capable of maintaining a secret relationship of _that_ nature, especially considering that they are constantly in the presence of Oz-sama." Break's smile shifted into his trade-mark knowing smirk. He leaned in close to her and whispered in a suggestive voice.

"Oh, I'm certain that no one would think either of us could possibly have taken a lover, and yet you and I both know..." he trailed off as he caressed her face in a way that she would normally have enjoyed but which at the moment only served to irritate her. She cleared her throat and he lowered his hand although he did not put any more distance between them.

"Yes, well. Be that as it may I still think it highly unlikely, especially since Alice seems to be much more partial to Oz-sama." She wasn't unaware of the fact that he had moved even closer to her, but she'd be damned if she'd let him realize just how much it was weighing on her mind.

"Well then please tell me,Ojou-sama" he had gone back to speaking pleasantly, almost as if he wasn't cornering her against the wall of her study. "What makes you think that miss Alice prefers Oz?" he asked.

"They've already kissed for one." she stated. Her back was now against the wall and Break was standing right in front of her so that his chest was the only thing she could see unless she craned her head up to look at him, which she downright refused to do.

"Oh, but that doesn't count, Ojou-sama. Miss alice had no idea what she was doing and that kiss was only ever meant to transfer her blood to Oz." He paused for a moment, his hand went to her face once again, cupping her chin gently and coaxing her to look up at him. "After all, you should know that a kiss is so much more than that." he smirked again, his lone red eye watching her reaction through his white bangs.

"Shut up." she muttered angrily, turning from him indignantly even though there was nothing she could do about the blush that had spread across her cheeks and down her neck. His smile softened.

"Don't be upset." he whispered as he snaked his hands along her waist. She murmured a half-hearted protest but allowed him to wrap her in a hug. A kiss to her temple eventually forced the smile that had been threatening to show itself to the surface as she relaxed further into the embrace.

The moment was brought to an end when they heard Reim's voice down the hallway calling out for Break. The mischievous look on his face told her that he had obviously neglected one of his many duties. He pulled back and with a chivalrous bow he disappeared into one of the wardrobes on the other side of the room just as Reim knocked on the door asking for him. Sharon went to check the wardrobe to see if he had truly disappeared, a habit she had developped during her childhood and had never been able to get rid of no matter how certain she was that he would no longer be there. As soon as she was certain that the wardrobe was empty she went to the door to inform Reim of Break's absence all the while shaking her head at the ridiculous man's antiques.

_AN:/ Well, I finally got around to publishing the first chapter of this story. Hope you all keep reading, things are about to get interesting._


	2. Chapter 2

Later that night Sharon sat by the window in her bedroom looking outside while she went over the conversation Break had started in her study. How Break could have come up with such a ludicrous idea was beyond her. It was as if he didn't realize tha having Gil and Alice in the same room worked under the same principal as lighting a match in a room full of gunpowder. It only took one spark to plummet everyone in it into a very messy explosion. She gave a little yawn and turned her attention back to the scenery outside.

The moon was full and had just recently been freed from a smokescreen of clouds so that the entire garden that her window overlooked had been transformed from the usual colorful view into a silvery-blue ocean. She enjoyed nights like these, the quiet was soothing as was the view and she often found that she slept much better after she took the time to admire these nights.

"It wouldn't do for you to fall asleep seated like that, Ojou-sama." Break's voice barely interrupted the quiet of the night but it was enough to startle her. Her whole body gave a jolt but his hands were already on her shoulders keeping her in place.

His low chuckle was soothing in the stillness of the night. "Did I startle you?" he teased as he tucked her hair so that it pooled down her back and bared her shoulders. She gave a quiet hum as a response as he placed a trail of soft kisses down her neck and right shoulder. She leaned into his touch and placed her hands over his after slipping his cotton gloves off.

They spent some time in relative silence while looking out the window. Break was well aware of her love of these moonlit nights and remained dutifully silent as she soaked in the quiet calmness of the night mixed with the rythmic hush of their breaths.

Eventually Sharon felt the day's exhaustion start to take its toll on her. She swept her eyes over the whole scene one last time then got up. She slipped out of Break's embrace but kept one of his gloveless hands in her own. She had only taken a few steps when she felt the light resistance coming from him. She turned to face him.

It wasn't the first time that she saw him in this light, not by a long shot, but every time she saw him like this she always caught herself marvelling at how much he belonged in these nights. Between the silver of his hair and the paleness of his complexion his whole face seemed to blend in with his surroundings and his eye always seemed to catch her attention as it shimmered a ghostly garnet. There was mischief in his eye tonight as he smiled down at her. She was wary.

"I've given some thought to the conversation we had earlier today." he began. She sighed. Of course he would bring something like that up. Her reaction seemed to be amusing to him since his lips twitched upwards the tiniest bit before he continued. "And an idea struck me which I think you might find interesting, Ojou-sama." She raised an eyebrow. Knowing Break it would probably be...

"Another bet?" she asked

"My Lady knows me well." he laughed. "But yes, another bet. After all, you did win the last one so I believe I deserve to win this time." She watched him silently for a moment.

"Fine." she grudginly agreed.

Break's smile shifted into a scheming smirk. In the moonlight his half-lidded eye shone like a beacon. "I also thought that while we were at it we could make this a little more interesting, Ojou-sama."

She frowned but could find no reason to object. At least not _yet._ "Go on." she huffed.

"I propose that the loser of our little bet be forced to do one thing the winner asks of them, no objections." her eyes widened at the proposition.

Both she and Break had a vicious streak in them. The chance to be able to force the other to go through one action that they would absolutely refuse to do under normal circumstances was almost too good to pass up, which was probably why Break had proposed it as the price in their little wager. He knew that there were thousands of little secrets she wanted to get out of him and hundreds of little habits she'd like to correct, if only for a limited amount of time. She found herself about to agree almost at once but quickly held herself back. True, she'd love to grab this chance, but wasn't he in exactly the same situation? Weren't there a thousand things about her, embarassing things, that he would love to bring to the surface? Even though he was the more mysterious and secretive of the two wouldn't there be things about her that he was curious about as well?

Break said nothing while she thought things through, his expression didn't waver as the moment stretched on. He had a knowing look on his face. He was obviously confident that she wouldn't deny him this wager, and he could tell that she had almost finished deliberating.

The fact of the matter was that Break was protective of her; extremely so. Should he end up winning, whatever it was he would ask of her wouldn't be something completely outside of her comfort zone. She was certain he wouldn't force her to do anything too bad. Embarassing, yes but he was a private man and he would keep it just between the two of them. That wouldn't be so bad. And if she ended up being correct in her own assumption that Alice's affections were with Oz, well then, maybe she just might be able to learn a little something about her servant.

"Alright." she agreed with a little nod to reassure herself. His visible eyebrow rose marginally but his knowing smile remained the same.

"You look absolutely determined to win, Ojou-sama." he mentioned.

Sharon raised her head haughtily. "Of course."

"I would expect nothing else from you." A confident smirk graced his face. "Nevertheless, I _am_ going to win, Sharon." Her eyes narrowed as if daring him to continue. His smirk remained in place and for a moment they were stuck in a standstill. When she was certain that he would say nothing else she turned her back to him.

"I'm going to bed." she muttered as she walked away from him and slipped between the covers of her bed with her back to him. "You may join me if you wish." she said. Break knew it to mean that the discussion was over and that even though she refused to discuss it further she was in firm disagreement with him. His smile lost its competitive edge and he decided that for the moment he could put the subject to rest.

"When have I ever been able to deny you anything, Sharon?" he asked as he walked over. She smiled despite herself but did not turn to face him.

He propped his cane against the night stand and hung his coat on it while he kicked off his white boots. Her back had been to him but she turned around once she felt that he did not get in between the covers as he got onto the bed.

"You do not mean to stay tonight?" she asked even though his actions were already answer enough.

A suggestive look started to slip onto Break's face as he opened his mouth to speak but Sharon made a show of inching her hand under her pillow where Break knew she kept another one of her harisens at the ready and decided against teasing her.

"I'll stay until you've fallen asleep. " he whispered as he brushed her hair back. It was mostly just an excuse to touch her, but she didn't seem to mind.

Sharon scoffed. "You'd think I was a child scared of the dark." she grumbled as she brought her right hand up to toy with his cravat.

The hand that had been running through her hair was placed on the bed beside her as he used it to steady himself as he hovered over her. She watched as he moved over her and dipped his head to kiss her. _You're not a child._ The hand that had been on his cravat smoothed it down before moving to his cheek in a soft encouraging touch, just below where his left eye should have been.

He pulled back slowly as a gentle hum of pleasure left her lips and her eyes opened once again. She watched him settle back beside her through half-lidded eyes then brought herself closer to his body, placing her hand on his chest. She could feel it rise and fall with each breath.

It didn't take long for her breathing to slow but Break stayed put, knowing that she often imitated sleep without even realizing it. He had lost count of the times when he would be talking quietly while in bed, thinking she was asleep only to have her answer him. Once he felt more confident that she was indeed asleep he called her name out once, so quietly that even had she actually been awake she might not have heard it were it not for their close proximity. He didn't detect the slightest movement from her, she was obviously long gone.

Slowly he began extract himself from her bed, it wasn't until she stirred slightly that he realized that she had taken hold of his shirt in a firm grip. He took great care in easing the material out of her hand and quickly slipped off the bed. He hastily slid his coat and boots back on then crept out of the room. As soon as he was back in the hallway he slowly slid the door to her room closed behind him, glad to note that the barely audible click would hardly be enough to disturb her.

"I _am_ going to win." He chuckled into the dark corridor.

_AN:/ Yeah, now things are starting to fall into place and soon we can start stalk- I mean, following Alice and her two *cough* suitors._


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Break was conspicuously absent throughout most of the morning and since Oz, Alice and Gilbert had been staying in Leverriu for the past couple of days Sharon's morning was strangely quiet. To pass the time she decided to head for the parlor where her mother's grand piano was on display, waiting for those occasional moments when she decided to make use of it. She was, after all, a rather accomplished piano player; nowhere near as skilled as her mother, but still capable enough so that it was actually something entertaining instead of a chore. She remembered how as a child her mother would teach her new melodies and she would then drag Break to the parlor and force him to listen to her as soon as each new piece was mastered. Today she did not feel like playing anything too complicated and so she stuck with the ones she found both simple and amusing. She decided to take the time to mull over what she would like to ask Break if, or rather, _when_ she won their little bet.

When it was finally time for lunch she went to the dining room in hopes of finding him waiting for her at the table but was once again disappointed. She sighed as she took her place at the head of the table and proceeded to eat her lunch by herself. Once she had finished she thought about going back to the piano but thought better of it once she remembered that many of the manor's servants liked to take a quick break after all the preperations for lunch were finished. Feeling bored and restless she decided to search the manor and see if there were any matters she could attend to that would keep her occupied until someone came to keep her company. She spent the better part of an hour ambling through the manor and it wasn't until she had snuck into Break's room and caught sight of the large stack of paperwork on his desk that she finally found something worth doing. She was fairly certain that this mountain of papers was the reason why Reim had been chasing Break throughout the manor yesterday. After giving it a minimal amount of thought she picked up the papers and carried them to her own study to relieve her boredom as well as to help Break.

It wasn't until well into the afternoon that she heard the filing cabinet that had been placed in the far corner of the room open. She turned around and watched patiently as Break crawled out and straightened himself before closing the cabinet and dusting himself off.

"You are aware that my study has a door, aren't you Break?" she asked cooly while leafing through one of the files she had set aside for reference. He smiled and waved her comment away with one long sleeve as he walked over and leaned against the desk, picking up the paper she had been scanning before he interrupted.

"My, my, Ojou-sama. If Reim finds out that you've been handling my paperwork for me he'll scold me for sure." he teased. Sharon scoffed.

"He's just as likely to scold you for putting it off for as long as you have." she took the document back from him and continued scanning it. "Is it really so difficult to just get it over and done with?" she asked lowering it to the desk and scrawling a little sidenote in the margin before placing it at the top of one of the neat little piles strewn around her desk. It was immediately replaced by yet another document but before she could begin filling it out her pen was plucked from her hand. Break held it up and waved in front of her with an infuriating half-smile on his face. She sighed as she put the paper back in the file she had taken it from, knowing that if Break truly wanted her whole and undivided attention he wouldn't rest until he had it. She snapped the file shut and turned to face him fully to see that he now had a fullblown smile on his face.

He pushed himself off from the desk and placed the pen he had taken from her on its surface. His knuckles brushed her cheek lightly. "You need to rest, Sharon." His voice softened "The other servants told me that you've been here for hours."

"The other servants are exaggerating." She sighed and rubbed her tired eyes.

One silver eyebrow rose skeptically. "Are they?" She offered no answer. He sighed and smiled fondly at her. "Let's go, Ojou-Sama. I've had everything set so that we can have tea out on your favorite balcony." He offered his hand and escorted her out of the room.

"Have you given any thought to what you'd like to ask of me?" he asked after he had served her tea and allowed himself to slip into the seat beside hers with his own cup of tea and enough pastries for both of them.

"You mean our bet?" She questioned as she watched him slip a forkfull of cake in his mouth.

"Yes." he confirmed. "What would you like me to do in the, ah, _unlikely_ case that you win our little bet?" He conveniantly brought his napkin up to dab at his lips; but they had been together long enough for her to be able to picture his upturned lips perfectly. She huffed, again. It was normal behaviour when in Break's often exasperating presence.

"I have given it some thought, yes." She sipped at her tea. "Would you like to hear what I've come up with?" she offered.

"No." he answered simply. She fixed her gaze on him curiously. He was watching her over the top of his teacup with his ever-present smile etched on his lips.

"No?" she echoed dumbly. His eye crinkled further in amusement before closing completely as he drank down the last of his tea.

"I thought it would be more fun if whichever one of us wins-" once again his stupid smirk flickered on his face for a moment before disappearing. "surprised the other with their request."

Break'ssuggestion actually made sense. It probably would be better if they didn't know what the other wanted from them, that way they wouldn't be able to prepare anything beforehand as they were both wont to do.

"If you're sure you want to be taken by surprise..." she trailed off as she graced him with a smirk of her own , watching as he materialized a colorfully wrapped lollipop instantly from one of his sleeves. The sideways glance he sent her way as he inspected the sweet was enough to let her know that her little taunt had not gone unnoticed.

"So, how do you plan to investigate this?" she asked once he deemed his sweet fit for consumption and popped it in his mouth.

"They're scheduled to come back tomorrow." he explained, his voice distorted by the candy. "So I thought we could start by observing them here."

"I see." she nodded. "But do you really think we'll find anything out so easily? All three of them are good at keeping secrets, Break."

He grinned at her then, the lollipop slipped from his mouth as he twirled it around between his fingers.

"Well, so are we, Ojou-sama."

He brought the lollipop back to his mouth.

"But you see, Sharon."

The lollipop's stick was jutting out from the left side corner of his mouth comically

"When it comes to finding out secrets..."

Now, he switched so that the stick popped out of the right side of his mouth.

"We're even better."

_Crunch_

_AN:/ Aaaand we'll finally start to see more characters pop up now!_


	4. Chapter 4

It was early in the morning and already Alice could see that today was not going to be a good day. She had been jostled awake by Raven only to be told that they would be heading to one of the Rainsworth family's estates to meet up with Sharon and the stupid Pierrot. After a breakfast that was utterly lacking in substance (by which she meant meat, of course) she had been ushered into the awaiting carriage by Gilbert as Oz followed along with his usual complacent smile. Finally, as if all this activity at such an ungodly hour wasn't enough, Raven had been moody and fidgety for a while now and it was starting to get on her nerves.

She smirked slightly as the carriage drove over a particularly noticeable bump causing Gil to growl in agitation. Tch, and he called her an animal.

"What's so funny?" he demanded in the same coarse tone. She didn't dignifie him with an answer and instead turned to watch the scenery pass outside the window.

Gilbert hissed, enfuriated by her smug look and slumped lower into his seat as he replayed the days events in his mind. He had woken up to find that there was absolutely no food left in the house. Under direct questioning Oz had later admitted to him that he and Alice had raided his kitchen in search of a midnight snack and hadn't thought to leave anything for breakfast. Gil had therefore been forced to go out to buy food before he woke his two housemates up. He had gotten back just as Oz was getting up and proceeded to wake Alice and cook them all a healthy breakfast.

If he were a man graced with any semblance of luck maybe things would have started to look up for him after that, but fate didn't deign smile upon him. During the whole meal he had had to tolerate Alice's constant complaints about the lack of meat while Oz kept trying to encourage them to get along. It wasn't until well into their (very) late breakfast that he realized that they were running late and would therefore not reach the Rainsworth estate on time, thus striking fear into his heart as he thought about the talking to that Lady Sharon was likely to impart on him as soon as she set her eyes on him.

With that image in mind he quickly herded Oz and Alice into the carriage that had been sent for them. After signaling the carriage driver to go he had spent the better part of ten minutes trying to make sure that he hadn't forgotten anything important before leaving the house. In the end he was finally convinced that everything was under control.

But that was when the worst part of his day began. To try and get his nerves under control he had fished in his coat pocket for a cigarette only to come up empty handed. At first he had thought nothing of it, his coat had many pockets and he would shove the pack half-hazardly into whichever one was most conveniant for him at the time. But when the pack finally did emerge all that was left in it was the lingering smell of tobacco. He had looked outside hopefully, but they were well outside the city limits and there was no way he was risking Sharon's wrath to go back and buy a pack.

But god, what he wouldn't give for a smoke!

He sighed. The good news was that they were finally nearing the Rainsworth manor. It was now visible over the treetops. Well, lunch might just be enough to get his mind off his predicament at least until he could slip away to the nearest town to buy a pack. He sighed again as the frustration mounted. The carriage made a last turn before the Rainsworth estate's gates came into view and that was when Gil realized that his day wouldn't get any better: Sharon was waiting for them at the gates fanning herself with her harisen and beside her Break was waving cheerily at them. Both of them looked just a little too pleased to see them... they were definately up to something.

_AN:/ Sorry for the late update. I think I'll have to start writing shorter chapters (kinda like this one) so that it can actually be updated on a (relatively) regular basis and still hand in all my projects for college. Also, I'm sure that by now most of you have seen it but since some of you wanted to know how Break and Sharon got together for this fic you should check out my story "Little Talks"._


	5. Chapter 5

"So, why don't you three tell us what you've been up to since the last time you were here?" Sharon spoke up, turning to send them a smile over her shoulder. She and Break were in the lead as they walked down the long corridors of the Rainsworth manor to the dining room where their lunch had already been set out by the servants of the household.

Gil hated this; Break and Sharon were acting odd. Granted, even on the best of days neither one of them was exactly what one would call _normal_ (this was especially true for Break) but there was something unerving about the way their attention seemed to be solely focused on him and his two companions.

"Oh, we haven't been up to much, really. Right Gil?" Oz spoke up. Gil turned to him and saw that Oz had also caught on to the duo's strange behaviour. Of Course Oz seemed totally unphased and even slightly amused by it all, but that was to be expected and it was only because he had no idea how bad Break and Sharon could get. Yes indeed, Gilbert knew better than anyone (except, perhaps, Reim) that whenever it seemed like Break and Sharon were plotting something together that it was best to try and steer clear of their plans. God have mercy on whosoever was the unfortunate target of their shared plot.

"Yes, that's right." Gil nodded, trying not to let his unease show. He cleared his throat and continued. "I've mostly just been trying to make sure that the stupid rabbit doesn't eat me out of house and home." He didn't miss the glare that Alice sent his way. He smirked, feeling that he had finally gotten her back for her smug attitude that morning.

"Be nice." Sharon chided.

"Ojou-sama is quite right. Is that any way to treat a lady?" Break teased picking up the pace and throwing open the doors to the dining room.

"Seaweed head is just in a bad mood because he forgot his precious cigarettes." Alice spoke up, sticking her tongue out at him when he glared at her. That little rodent, she _knew_ that Break's teasing would be unbearable now!

"Oh my, is that so?" was Break's gleeful reply as he bowed to let Sharon and Alice in.

Gil rubbed at his temples in an attempt to stop the massive headache he felt coming his way. He watched as Break pulled a chair out for Sharon at the head of the table and didn't miss the little smirk on his lips as he tilted his head in their direction. Sharon'ssmile was daintily hidden behind her hand, however, once she caught him watching them her hand lowered and she gave him a reassuring smile. A smile which once again served only to fuel his suspicion. Seeing that Sharon wasn't about to give anything away Gil sighed and took his seat beside Alice who had already settled down and was digging into her dish with fervor.

The rest of their meal went by in similar fashion. Oz managed to strike up some idle chit-chat with Sharon during which Break would ocasionally make his own snide comments. In the meantime Gil would try to cough out a response whenever Sharon or Oz would specificaly ask for his opinion. However, no matter how meaningless the conversation Gil still couldn't help feeling uneasy since he could still feel that the members of the Rainsworth household had their attention firmly fixed on them. He was so intensely concentrated on keeping an eye on Break and Sharon that even though he was completely aware of Alice's fork swiping the meat off his plate he didn't bother to take the time to scold her about it, something she seemed immensely pleased about.

Some time later, Gil watched as Break was the last to push his plate away. Although at first he had tried to leave the dish mostly untouched this had not gone unnoticed by Sharon and she had silently but adamantly made it clear that it was not alright for the sick man to neglect his food. Now the delicate china was near pristine and the look on Break's face clearly indicated that he was anxiously awaiting desert. Gil groaned realizing that the moment he had been dreading had finally arrived. Whatever devious plan those two had up their sleeves it was almost certain that Break would put it into action during desert.

He heard Alice hum thoughtfully beside him. She must have heard the anxious groan he hadn't quite managed to supress. Gil honestly couldn't believe it had taken her so long to clue in on the atmosphere surrounding the occupants of the table; she was usually good at noticing these things even if she wasn't very capable at reacting to them. He threw her a glance out of the corner of his eyes and saw that she was gnawing absently at one of the bones left on her plate (the servants never dared retrieve her plate until well after she had abandoned the table) and watching everyone seated around the table with mild interest. She turned her head towards him, looked him over slowly and thoroughly then arched one dark eyebrow, silently demanding he give her an explanation. He shrugged and, seeing that he could give her no other answer she turned the other way and did the same to Oz. Gil managed to see the reassuring smile he gave her over her head. Oz had no idea what was going on but he took it in stride just like he always did. Alice's curious expression disappeared to be replaced by a frown when she gave the same long look to Break and Sharon who were both wearing smiles that were just slightly too inviting.

"Whaddya want, stupid Pierrot?" she growled tossing the spotless bone onto her plate with all the others. Gil blanched.

She couldn't.

She just _couldn't._

And yet she did.

His hand shot out of its own accord and seized her shoulder in a vain hope to stop her but the words had already been spoken. He felt a chill run up his spine. She had practically given them an engraved invitation to set their plan into motion.

He could vaguely hear Sharon giggle before it was drowned out by Alice's own shouts and demands as she pointed a finger at Break and glared. Out of the corner of his eye Gil vaguely registered Oz taking a sip from his cup of tea as he watched the scene unfold. He shuddered again as Break spoke up making sure thath his voice was just loud enough to cover up Alice's ongoing rant.

"Well, seeing as you were so kind to ask, I was just wondering..."

_God have mercy on them all!_

"Gilbert-kun, have you finally managed to get yourself a young lady-friend?"

The last thing he heard was a loud thudding sound but for the life of him he couldn't quite pin down where it came from...

"Well, well," Break muttered as he prodded Gil's prone body none too gently with his cane. "It would seem that he fainted quite spectacularly." He then bit back a giggle as Gil's right hand twitched involuntarily, no doubt itching for a cigarette to hold on to.

"Break..." Sharon trailed off not quite knowing what to say to him or how to go about scolding him.

"I guess that's a no then, right?" Oz asked as he knelt down beside Gil and poked him a few times on the cheek.

_AN:/ Yeah, not my favourite, but still a fun chapter to write. Hopefully the next one will be easier to write and it'll be updated a bit faster than this one._


End file.
